Casual transphobia is now considered “work-of-art”.
Consider me not really surprised.
You win the award for going straight to “transphobia” on the first post of a thread! Congrats! Usually it takes a few dozen replies before someone falls back on it.
You didn’t look at the arsehole who she was replying to. J.K.Rowling barely registers on the offensiveness scale in comparison.
At least we should be able to get through to her and tell her why it is bad.
Usually it’s because someone has actually been far more transphobic than this.
So it’s ok to rely on base forms of bigotry, as long as the person we’re attacking is even more bigoted?
That’s really terrible logic.
The celebration of basic refutation of very obvious bigotry from celebrities of any sort, especially when that type of bigotry isn’t the type that directly effects them (this is very much because Williams is a black woman, specifically) is weird and seems to be done for ally back-pats rather than any actual good. When other people discuss their own discomfort on the statement and how it effects them (and in this case, many trans women have spoken up on twitter), and get tossed aside as not mattering, well, then it becomes obvious that it really is all about ally back-pats and not actually being a decent person.
But really, this is “work-of-art”? Calling someone an idiot is now a work of art? Excuse me if I have some fucking standards for my life.
No, which is why I said
It’s the difference between my family who didn’t get trans*, and the people who shouted abuse, spat on me and tried to put bricks through my window. Both were wrong but one group I could talk to and persuade them to change their behaviour. The other group ended up chasing me away from the city I grew up in.
Imperfect Response to Troll Deemed Real Problem
Sure, but this isn’t about getting through to her - I’ve not really got any bone to pick with Rowling because honestly I DON’T expect her to know better, nor is it my place to educate her. My complaint is with this thread, which is describing the most basic insult-spitting possible as a “work-of-art smackdown”. And yes, I get that it’s sports, but it seems weird to me there’s an article heaping praise on a white women for delivering basic insults to a racist guy, and nothing on the actual black woman the racist guy is attacking.
Imperfect response to trolley by someone who’s not even involved deemed celebratory, praise-worthy event.
Or, y’know, remotely transphobic whatsoever. Mocking a sexist by pointing out that Serena Williams looks great in a dress and chuckling that one’s husband does not isn’t “transphobic”. Or has anything to do with transsexuals at all.
When I saw that Serena had won again (I haven’t really followed tennis for at least a decade), I was kind of surprised to hear it… Also surprised to hear that she’s still ranked number one in the world. That is phenomenal, after all this time (she was first ranked #1 back in 2002).
It reinforces stereotypes that transpeople can’t pass as the gender they identify as. It’s a “calmly discuss with J.K. Rowling what the problem is” issue.
But I’m out of here. The previous discussion has been really bad for my mental health.
Forgive me, but I’m not seeing the transphobia.
Troll says “Serena is built like a man.” JKR replies with a picture of Serena in a dress, showing off her feminine figure, and sarcastically comparing that figure to the figure of someone who actually is “built like a man” (her husband) placed hypothetically in the same dress.
I can see this tweet, at worst, as ignoring the idea of transgenderism, but I don’t see it as fearful/deriding/degrading towards it.
There is no such thing as being “built like a man”, just like there’s no such thing as being “built like a woman”. There is no clear dividing line on which people look like men on one side and women on the other, and people of all genders span the whole range of looks. This is without even getting into the “man in a dress” joke is just overplayed and constantly given a pass. I guess “casual cissexism” would have been a better term to use, on my part, but still, it’s not some epic, amazing, play the trumpets takedown.
And again, I’m not particularly cross at Rowling for using language she probably doesn’t know better than to use, I’m cross that this is apparently a praiseworthy news article. There’s one woman mentioned in the opening post that’s deserving of praise here, and it’s not the one the article is about.
Ok, this thread almost immediately got ridiculous. Rowling has always been an ally of the LBGT community. As a transwoman, I don’t find her statement to be the least bit transphobic. Can we PLEASE STOP THROWING ROCKS AT EACH OTHER AND AT OUR ALLIES! The enemy is over there. Throw rocks at them.
(sorry)
JEHOVAH! JEHOVAH! JEHOVAH! (sorry)
Ah, but who is within range?
I think you’re saying that would be Williams? If so, could you explain why you’re saying she’s deserving of praise?
Oh Christ. Yes there is. Humans, like many, many animals have sexual dimorphism. It is how we can tell the sex of a human who has been dead for 15000 years.
That isn’t so say there aren’t SOME people with SOME overlap of these features - and obviously since they are largely hormonally based, one can change these feature through hormones. But even then there are some clear physical traits that are different.
There are basic physical differences between men and women. To deny that is just… silly.
